Swimming belt



SWIMMING BELT Filed April 1, 1924 WITNESSES INVENTOR W EDWARD W/ILKER 4 BY W Y-Q ATTORNEYS Patented Apr. 7, 1925.

UNITED STATES EDWARD WALK-ER, OF GRANTWOOD, NEW JERSEY.

SWIMMING BELT.

Application filed April 1, 1924. Serial No. 703,466.

To all whom, it may concern:

Be it known that I, EDWARD WALKER, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of Grantwood, in the county of Ber gen and State of New Jersey, have invented a new and Improved Swimming Belt, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description.

This invention relates to improvements in swimming belts, and has for one of its objects the provision of an improved belt of simple and practical construction capable of being worn so as to be concealed from view on the .person of the wearer and which will materially assist in sustaining the wearer in the water.

The above and other objects will appear more clearly from the following detailed description, when taken in connection with the accompanying drawing, which illustrates a preferred embodiment of the lnventlve idea.

In the drawing Figure 1 is a perspective view of the belt constructed in accordance with the invention- Figure 2 is a fragmentary sectional view on the line 22 of Figure 1;

Figure 3 is a section on the line 33 of Figure 1; and

Figure 4 is a fragmentary view showing the manner of attaching a swimming belt to another belt.

The belt is shown as consisting of a body portion formed principally of two strips'5 and 6, which may be made of any suitable material, such as rubber or rubberized cloth, combined to provide the inner and outer walls of the belt. The longitudinal edges and ends of the walls 5 and 6 are secured together in any preferred manner, as indicated at- 7, and at intervals about the upper and lower edges of the belt the same has attached thereto the tabs 8 formed with buttonholes permitting of the attachment of the belt to buttons sewed on the inside of a swimming suit, preferably adjacent the waist portion thereof, so that the belt when worn will be invisible. Furthermore, the belt is so constructed that when inflated the same will have a relatively flat configuration which will permit of its being worn without creating a decided bulge about the body of the wearer. A suitable fastener 9 is also provided at the ends of the belt for securlng the same about the body when being attached to a shirt. As

shown in Figure 4, the device may be fassufiicient to give adequate support two or more may be attached to the shirt to gain the desired result.

In order to produce the relatively fiat appearance of the belt when inflated means are provided in the form of partitions 11 joining the inner and outer walls of the belt and combining to limit the outward movement of said walls when the belt is being inflated. To this end each partition has the edge portions 12 thereof suitably secured to the walls 5 and 6 and said edge portions preferably extend along said walls to points contiguous to a next adjacent partition so as to form a reinforcement for the walls and imp-art a degree of rigidity thereto at the points of attachment of the intermediate portion of each partition to said walls. These partitions 11 will combine to form a plurality of air compartments and each partition is provided with a series of openings 13 therein forming communication between adjacent compartments sothat all of them may receive air when the belt is being inflated by means of a suitable valve carried by one end of the belt.

It will be obvious from the foregoing description that, by reason of securing the longitudinal edges of the walls to each other and by providing the partitions 11 which are attached to said walls, the belt, when properly inflated, will assume a relatively flat contour and, therefore, will not bulge to an excessive degree when being worn.

What is claimed is:

1. A swimming belt, comprising a hollow body portion of general elliptical shape in cross section and a plurality of apertured partitions in said body portion extending transversely thereof to form communicating air compartments, said partitions each having edge portions secured to the side walls and extending to points contiguous to a next adjacent partition to reinforce said walls.

2. A swimming belt, comprising a two-part hollow body portion, apertured partitions in said body portion extending transversely thereof and secured between the two parts of the body portion, said partitions also hav-v ing their end portions extending to points contiguous to a next adjacent partition to reinforce the walls of the body portion.

3. A swimming belt capable of attachment to the inside of a portion of a swimming suit and including a body portion consistin of inner and outer Walls having their longitudinal edges secured together, ano. a plurality of apertured partitions in said body portion extending transversely thereof to form communicating air compartments, said partitions each having edge portions secured to said Walls and extending to points contiguous-to a next adjacent par tition to reinforce said walls and said partitions limiting the outward movement of said walls when air is introduced into said compartments, the securing of the longitudinal edges of said Walls together and the attachment of said partitions to said walls combining to form a relatively fiat belt 2:

when inflated.

EDVARD WALKER. 

